Tags:
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Paranormal,
Vampires,
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978-1-61650-659-9,
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knuckles.
“You all right over there, Mason?” someone shouted.
His skin knit together and the blood caked on his hand. Her eyes flashed into his mind. He didn’t like that she’d gotten to him. The way those ice-blue eyes glowed with need touched him somewhere he hadn’t been touched before. Part of him longed to satisfy that need, in any way possible. The other part screamed that she was a Vampire who preyed upon the weak and innocent. She deserved death.
He sat on his cot. Why did he desire that Vampire? It made no sense, not when doing so may cost him his freedom, his soul, and possibly his life.
He hadn’t been with a woman since before the awakening. Too risky for someone to find out what he was. Her image swam before him. Vampires didn’t treat humans like humans, it was true, but she’d been different: the unnaturally pale color of her skin, the slowness of her gait, the elongation of her fangs. She hadn’t fed in a long time. She’d talked to him, studied him. Perhaps it was possible she was different.
Mason shook his head, trying to clear it. He needed to stop being stupid. One way or another, he was going to get his freedom and never see her again.
The cell block opened and voices drifted down the courtyard. The viewing had begun.
After several minutes, a loud, heavy stride moved down the courtyard. The Vampire strode straight to Mason and stopped. Mason caught the scent of the Vampire easily. He was high up and old. The aroma of his blood told Mason as much. It was peppered with the scents of a thousand different humans. Mason glanced over despite himself.
The tall and thin, almost skeletal Vampire had jet-black hair pulled into a tight ponytail at the base of his neck. An angular nose, sharp and pointed, accentuated his high cheekbones. His lips were almost nonexistent beneath a thin long mustache that curved into a goatee. A long duster with a huge fur collar muted the deep-blue silk shirt underneath. He looked meticulous and harsh.
The Vampire stood motionless, staring at Mason, both hands wrapped around a silver-topped cane. Other Vampires stopped momentarily at Mason’s cell door, but then looked at the older Vampire and continued on their way. The longer the Vampire stood there, the more uneasy he made Mason. At the end of the hour, the bell rang and everyone filed out, except for the Vampire. He continued to stand and stare at Mason. Finally, Clive came down to escort him out.
A chill swept over Mason as the Vampire left. The way the Vampire had stared at him left Mason with a pit in his stomach.
Ten minutes later, Jenny came down with food for everyone. Questions bombarded her. “I don’t know, I’m sorry,” she answered.
She reached Mason’s cell. He stared at her through the bars. “Jenny?” he asked. “Can you tell us what happened when you were sold?”
Jenny paused, looking around. Everyone hung on the bars of their cells.
“I wasn’t sold here. There are six auction houses total in the United States and several in Europe, Asia and South America. The one I was at wasn’t as nice. The other slavers delivered me here to Clive. I was introduced to the rest of the slaves, and set to work. It was like getting a new job in a boarding house. You work, you sleep, you eat, and if you’re bought by a kind Vampire, you’re allowed liberties.”
“What about the Vampires who were here tonight?” asked Jax.
“The tall blond couple are a businessman and his wife. They’re in the market for a new breeding mate. The last one died after giving birth to a dead baby. The short, stocky man who was accompanied by his minion needs a new blood slave. He killed the last one in a fit of rage. The woman with the young man is looking for a guardian for her son. The others I’m not sure about, they aren’t very high up in the Vampire hierarchy.” She sounded detached by what was going on.
That must be how it was after a while. It all became your life, Mason thought. Not for him.
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